Transmission mechanism for occupant-propelled vehicles



Se t 14 9 1926.

F. STA'RR ITRAIQSIVIISSIOB] MECHANISM FOR OCGUPAIiT PROPELLED VEHICLESFiled June 8 1925 22 /8 76 INVEINTORW l BY WW TTOR Patented Sept. 141-,1926.

rem) swans, or OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.

'TRANSMISSION"MEOHANISIVLFQR OCCUPANT-PRO PELLED VEHICLES.

,i Application filed'June 8, 1925.- Seria1'No..35,514.

My invention .mrelates in general =to occupant-propelled nehiclesandhas-particular reference toga propelling); or transmission mechanism.for such vehicles.

' In its preilierred formgthetransmission inechanismwhasbeenwdevisedutor usexin combination with. a childs vehiclesuch as shownand described inwmy Patent .No.'l,500,85-r-, oi July 8,1924. I'llhe:transmission .mechanisin identified :in "the present: applicationscribed :in. A my uco.-pendi-ng:. application filed Octobe1n28, 1922,Serial: N .o. .597,'-l8-l.

. Bri1el'ly; the principal object'ofiimy present case is to develop a;transmission.mechanism in which a forward or; .reverse dniveanay be.seleetixielyimp arted :to'. the Vehicle andtat1:the

will. of the 013612Li01,..ELIlClJJEllSOpCO .coinbine .therselective'drive'with: means for maintaining thesanie in active ordn'rneutralposition. for; coasting. .i'While these: features are: included in myformer embodiments,- the present 3ior1n is decided improvementthereover, owing to"its. simple and. other 2-5 salient; features which.will appear the description of :the. invention p roceeds with referenceto the accompanying sheet of drawings.

In said drawings Figure l is H a'jjview in side elevation oftheigenerallassembly of the invention. with; part of the same shownin section.

F Q-is adetailed NlGW'lD side-elevation of the. 'crosshead structurewinparticular; and

:1; with aside-of atheu housingremoved and Fig. 3 is an-end elevation"of Fig. Qand with .the said removed side in place.

l i' dis; a zplan ofithe general assembly and ,=showing2 i0; advantagethe shift lever and notchesforthe Various shifts and 1 Fi x. 5 is ahorizontal section through the ore thead OIllthG line 5.5 of Fig: Zwith.the

portionoi. theshiit lever pinkshownin full.

-1 same willwbe described, for: convenience, in

. which is propelled. by theocc-upant thereof Land represent pair 10f:SpaQBCl parall suchlas a lchildsacoasterpwagon, but'itis to frame:linembers for the vehicle. The vehiclewheels {not shown) which arepreferably four in number, may be mounted upon axleshung from the. framernembersand whichprovide a pair of steering .Wheels and apair or" groundor drive Wheels. The axle for "theground Wheelsv is 'shownat. 5 with thesame suspended: fromithe frame members by. suitable brackets or the like6. This axle 5 .isasthe. rear one and it provides. a mounting; for thedrive sprocket, wheel 7 and the sarneis keyed to the axle torotategit,and thusdnipart'therequired driveto the ground wheelsrwhich, are mountedupon the axle so asto rotate with it. v

The sprocket chains, whiclrmay be the ordinary bicycle chain, afterpassing around thewheel 7 extends} longitudinally. of the frame andaround an idler Wheel. 9 which is supportedon bracket 10 secured to theunderside of the fireme men1hers and in alignment with (the wheel 7.This makes. a

suitable mounting for the sprocketchain that *thesame .isadapted totravel between the frame, inernbersir and 5 B.

- Topropelthe veh cl the chain Sis driven by means which. illbepresently described,

a-nd which :chain in .turn drives, the ground wheels through,- the.medium. of the sprocket .wheel I and the axle .hicle seat isrepresented.bythebrid ebers 11 which ere nounted upon the i in base forthe ve- 'e memrains meinhers respectively.

.be seenithat by impertin uprper. limb of the en,

-wheelswill bedriven. in a direction to the vehicle .forwai d,.-whereasby direction. {To accmnplish liteferring to theudrawihgs in detail the-FIO111; lll1O abovefdescribed assenihlyit will mo veinent. to the chain8. n. the

1 l, the ground direction of the. arrow.

rsine; the, direction of the movement .thewehicle will. be propelledbncliw or in. a reverse ob ect in siniplefha-nd, positive mannerisI'BlllVxijhQ crux OiiillQ presentinvention and i. o

i eifer mo -realize the. desiredobject. by 5 the fhllowcombination.:with a vehicle; of the types ing lever (not shown) roclred, .baclrard.

ng structure:

First-ofall Lprovide a pit nan l2 rh ich may bereciprocated. by ahandlebar oscillot forth n, is

by the-seated: occupant. The pit pivoted. at :13 lZQa'flIl; upstandingbraclre sented in general. b51141, The term crossh will be used toidentify the mechanisnr to slide back and-forth between the trains .14secured to the top of the crossheadreprethese members serving as a guideor track tor the crosshead. This Is made possible by clamping spacedplate 'l'ianges l6 and l? together by belts or the like 18 Fig. 5, toreceive the horizontal flanges of the frame m 1. NY a V members. lhep-ate lb provides a cover J! 4. i. .c 1

101' the lJOncllliO housing OJ. tne (:iosshead, and the flanges 17 aretermed as continuations of the sides 13 which extend downwardly inspaced relation, and with their extremities turned inwardly 1noverlapping relation to make up a bottom 20. While the sides 19 are heldtogether by a bolt 21, one of them is further provided with tongues 22intermediate its top and bottom and the same are bent over to bridge thespace be tween the two sides both at the front and rear. The sprocketchain passes through the box-like assembly of the cross-head at bothsides of the bent-over tongues 22.

Leaf springs 23 riveted or otherwise secured intermediate their ends tothe inside of the top and bottom of the crosshead housing overlie thechain 8 to take up the slack in the same and also hold the chain underspring tension so that it may be engaged by the head 2st in thefollowing man ner: Opposite ends of the head 24 are formed withdouble-ended grabs or hooks 25 which are adapted to engage the top andbottom limbs of the chain one at a time. and pull the chain along withthe crosshead as the latter travels between the frame members induced bythe pull of the pitman.

The head 24 is mounted upon the pin 26 which projects through thehousing of the crosshead and the said head is secured to the pin by akey 30 which projects through a keyway in the pin, and engages the headat diametrically opposite sides of the opening therein and in whichopening the key seats. On opposite sides of the head are plates 31 withrivets or the like 32 securely clamping them to the head and locking thekey and pin to prevent lateral displacement of the pin in the crosshead.

The pin 26 at its other end is pivotally connected in any suitablemanner with a shift lever L7, positioned within easy reach of theoccupant of the vehicle so that the lever may be shifted to any of thethree positions as shown by the dotted lines of the lever in Figs. .2and 4t. Any of the three positions is selectively chosen by the occupantand can be identified as a forward drive, neutral or coasting positionand a reverse drive. The lever 27 is held under tension 01 the spring 28and can be moved into and out 01" any one of the three notches 33 in theplate 29, the notches being arranged to correspond to the two differentdrives and the neutral position.

Operation. Assuming that the occupant desires to propel the vehicleforward, he or she will more the shift lever 27, as shown in Fig. l,into the first notch. This movement will turn the head as to a positionas shown in Fig. 2, whereby one hook ot the head will engage a link ofthe upper limb of the chain, the upper leai spring assisting theengagement by urging the chain toward the head and thus assure theconnection. The occupant will then move the oscillating lever (notshown) of the vehicle in either direction and the pitman 12 end thecrosshead 15 will move "forward, and thus pull the upper limb of thechain with it while the lower limb will move backward and the linksthereof bump over the lowermost hook. The moving upperlimb will rotatethe sprocket wheel 7 counterclockwise and impart a forward movement tothe ground wheels. Another movement of the oscillating lever willreverse the direction of the crosshead, and the said lowermost hook willthen grab or engage a link of the lower limb and pull the said limb inthe same general direction of the chain travel, while the diagonal hookwill this time bump over the links of the upper limb. the two leatsprings all the while urging the limbs toward the head.

It the occupantdesires to coast, he will move the shift lever 2? intothe middle notch and which will position the head 24- horizontally asindicated by the dot-and-dash center line 5.-5 of Fig. 2 and entirelyout of engagement with the chain, so that the back and forth movement ofthe crosshead will be without etl'ect, and hence no movement thereof orof the oscillating lever is necessary.

For a reverse drive the occupant will shift the lever 27 into the lastnotch and which will turn the head as indicated by the dot-and-dashcenter line 55, so that the other pair of diagonal hooks will similarlyand alternately engage the respective limbs of the chain and impart amovement thereto to rotate the sprocket wheel 7 clockwise and thus drivethe vehicle backwards.

It is also to be observed that it the vehicle is being propelled forwardor 'bacln ward on a grade, the occupant may. it he chooses, ceaseoperating the oscillating lever and crossaead follower, and the momentumof the vehicle will cause the traveling chain to continue and to bumpover at links of both limbs of the chain simultaneously. This action, ina measure, acts as a brake to check the acceleration of the vehicle. Itit is desired to reengage or get in gear again with the links of thechain belt while going down grade, the occupant will again operate theoscillating lever and at a rate of speed just a little Faster than themoving chain, and it is obvious that this action will cause the hooks 25to alternately slip into the links and continue the movement of thechain and the gradual stoppage of the same at the will of the operator.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, the advantages of the construction and method of operationwill be readily understood by those skilled in the art to which theinvention appertains, and while I have described the principle of,operation, together with the device which I now consider to be the bestembodiment thereof, I desire to have it understood that the device shownis merely illustrative and that such changes may be made, when desired,as fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is the following: I

1. In a transmission mechanism of the class described, an endless chain,a crosshead adapted to reciprocate along the chain, a chain grab on thecrosshead for alternately engaging the upper and lower limbs of thechain for driving the same in a continuous direction, said chain grabcomprising an elongated block disposed between the upper and lower limbsof the chain, chain engaging means on the block at the ends thereof andmeans for turning the block to move the chain engaging means thereofinto engagement with the upper and lower limbs of the chain and viceversa as desired.

2. In a transmission mechanism of the class described, a pair of spacedparallel frame members, a sprocket wheel suspended from said members, anaxle rigidly connected to the sprocket Wheel, an idler wheel alsosuspended from said frame members, an endless chain embracing saidwheels, a crosshead embracing the chain and slidably mounted upon theframe members, means for sliding the crosshead, a chain grab carried bythe crosshead comprising an elongated block having chain grabbing meansthereon at its ends, said block being pivotally mounted between theupper and lower limbs of the chain, and means for turning the block tobring the chain grabbing means into alternate grabbing relation with thelimbs of the chain.

In a crosshead structure for transmis sion mechanisms, a slidablehousing, a chain having upper and lower limbs passing therethrough, achain grab in said housing between the said upper and lower limbs, saidchain grab having chain engaging means thereon at its ends, means forturning the grab through a predetermined angle to bring the chaingrabbing means into alternate engagement with the limbs of t he chain,and spring means carried by said housing urg-' ing the limbs toward thesaid grab.

4. A structure as specified in claim 3 in which the said turning meansis also adapted to move the chain grab into a neutral position wherebythe said chain engaging means will be out limbs of the chain.

5. The combination as set forth in claim 2 and in Which the chain grabis adapted to assume a position whereby the said chain grabbing meanswill be out of engagement with both the upper and lower limbs of thechain.

6. In a transmission mechanism of the class described, a slidingcrosshead, an endless chain passing therethrough having upper and lowerlimbs, an elongated plate on the crosshead disposed between the chainlimbs, said plate having hooks formed at its respective end corners andmeans for turning the plate through an angle to bring a diagonal pair ofhooks into alternate engagement with the chain limbs, means carried bysaid housing limbs toward the said hooks.

7. A structure as specified which the said plate turning adapted to turnthe plate to sition whereby the said hooks will be out of engagementwith both limbs of the chain.

In a transmission mechanism of the class described, a pair of spacedparallel urging the in claim 6 in means is also frame members, acrosshead slidably mounted between said members, said crossheadincluding a housing having downwardly presented side walls, channelsformed at the upper ends of the walls to receive the frame members toguide the crosshead, an endless chain passing through the crossheadhaving upper and lower limbs, an elongated plate between the walls ofthe crosshead, a pin carried by the walls and on which said plate iskeyed, a shift lever for turning said pin and with it the elongatedplate, hooks at the respective end corners of the plate, said shiftlever adapted to position the plate for alternately brin ing a pair ofthe diagonally positioned hoo rs into engagement with the upper andlower limbs or the chain.

9. A structure as specified in claim 8 in which the said shift leverisalso adapted to turn the plate in a neutral position whereby the saidhooks will be out of engagement with both the upper and lower limbs ofthe chain.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature,

FRED STARR.

of engagement with both and spring a neutral poill)

